- Analyze This: Harper's Political Interference with the Census

Posted: 7/21/2010 11:30:31 AM
Provinces rally against Ottawa as anger over census mounts, Steven Chase, Karen Howlett and Tavia Grant, , Jul. 21, 2010
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/provinces-rally-against-ottawa-as-anger-over-census-mounts/article1646827/

What Tony Clement actually said, according to CBC News, 18 Jul.'10, was:

"But he says that when the government approached Statistics Canada about changing the census, the agency gave three options to balance the concerns of those against the long-form census and those who rely on the data obtained.

"Clement says the government chose what it felt was the best course, but he would not reveal what the other two options were."
(CBC 18 Jul.'10)

That is much different then what he is suggesting now - that the changes are acceptable since this was a recommendation from Statscan

"But Mr. Clement said he believes that the head of Statscan finds the shift acceptable because it was the senior bureaucrat who came up with options on how to make the voluntary long form system work accurately.
'I am entitled to believe that when a deputy minister – in this case the chief statistician – gives me a set of options, he is comfortable with those options,' the minister said. "

However:
"The Industry Minister has been challenged by unnamed employees at Statscan who say he is misrepresenting facts by implying that the agency and chief statistician Munir Sheikh are satisfied with how Canada is switching to a voluntary long form."

Also, since Statscan is not arms length from the Government then, unfortunately, any statement made by a Statscan representative must be viewed in this light and we keep in mind the 'MEPS'.

Apparently, "[Munir] Sheikh has not commented publicly on the new questionnaire, and insists on taking all questions in e-mail form via the agency's communications office.
. . .

'I can't for a moment believe that Statistics Canada would have put its stamp of approval on the quality that this voluntary survey will result in,' Fellegi [the previuous head statistician for Stascan] said in an interview Friday."(see: Canadaeast.com)

This is exactly how the Harper government controls the messages from various agencies and departments, organizations under its control and what the MEPS is all about.

Something that is just as important, if not more, is that the emphasis is being changed to economic analysis and research.

Keep in mind "the switch in leadership to Mr. Sheikh, an economist, from former head statistician Ivan Fellegi".


Is it just a coincidence that Statscan, under the direct control of Stephen Harper and the Con's, is releasing results that tend to indicate that the economy is doing great.

With all due respect to those at Statscan, when we look at the control of the message that the Harper government enforces on anyone under its control, directly or even indirectly, as demonstrated by the MEPS, and when we consider just how important the Harper government places on being able to say that their plan is working, can we really take at face value what comes out of Statscan these days regarding how great the economy is, or any other agency under Harper's control, for that matter.

Statscan performs a very important function, and it is one of the unifying forces in Canada, especially given our regional and cultural diversity and economic extremes. It helps to keep our politicians honest by keeping us anchored to truth and reality. Now we can start to see why Harper wants to undermine its reliability.

Statscan has also enjoyed an impeccable reputation up until now.

We must not let Harper destroy it with their political interference and purely partizan approach to everything.

You can be assured that Harper is doing this (changing the census) for the benefit of a small group of people - his core of die-hard supporters, with epi-centre Alberta (Stelmach seems to be the only Premier that supports it - ask Statscan what the chances are of that being a co-incidence), Canada be damned.

Lloyd MacILquham cicblog.com/comments.html